Joshua Gunter, The Plain DealerConstruction crews work on the roof of the downtown convention center -- which will also serve as the roof of the mall.

CLEVELAND, Ohio --

Cuyahoga County is spending nearly a half-billion tax dollars on a convention complex to drive hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown Cleveland.

Yet the project, set to open for the National Senior Games next July, doesn't include a single parking space -- an omission that at least one expert describes as a potential deal breaker for some conventions.

"You've got be able to get there in bad weather without getting drenched or frozen," said Steven Hacker, president of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events. "There's got to be some convenient way to get there from your car. ... You can't just leave people to their own and say, 'What's six blocks?' "

Laurie Okun, the sales and marketing director at the newly opened convention center in Raleigh, N.C., agreed. Okun said 70 percent of the people booking her complex consider the 1,700 connected parking spaces to be an important part of the deal.

"I can't imagine not having that card in my back pocket, at least to say there's covered parking," she said. "The perception of downtown, the No. 1 panic is 'Where do I park?' "

But Cuyahoga County officials, who signed off on plans for the $465 million complex in Cleveland and have been overseeing construction, say they aren't worried. Neither are downtown boosters.

They contend that most conventioneers will either fly into the city and use public transit or will park at downtown hotels. They also said plenty of parking exists within walking distance of the complex, which includes a four-story medical mart on the northeast corner of St. Clair Avenue and Ontario Street and an L-shaped convention center beneath the malls.

Key Tower, Cuyahoga County and the city of Cleveland all have underground garages within a block ofthe complex, But they're not connected, and the 1,000-space county lot, which serves the Justice Center, often has been full with construction workers.

Parking never has been part of the county's plan. The underground site that commissioners and their developer, Chicago-based MMPI, chose in 2009 for the convention center had no room for parking.

A 2004 study of downtown parking persuaded then-county commissioners that including a garage in plans for the complex wasn't necessary. And if parking became a problem, they figured, a garage could be built later.

"It wasn't a money thing, though it wouldn't have added cost to the project," said James McCafferty, who served as county administrator at the time. "It was that we didn't really need it."

Previous Plain Dealer coverage

Cuyahoga County's new convention center is now expected to open early (July 13, 2012)

Medical Mart convention center 'topped out' in downtown Cleveland; $465 million site set to open 2013 (June 22)

Medical mart developer bills more than $25,000 a month in expenses to taxpayers (June 17)

As Cleveland medical mart rises up, compare the design to the actual building (June 3)

Cleveland medical mart guide: How it began and how it has progessed (April 29)

The study, conducted by consultant Desman Associates, found 56,400 downtown spaces -- 4,600 of them considered to be excess, based on traffic between the peak hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays. Most of that surplus spaces were on the fringe of downtown, along the lake, in the Flats and at the southern edge of the Gateway district.

Since then, parking lots off East 12th Street have become a development site for condominiums. Surface parking near the Cuyahoga River turned into the Flats East Bank neighborhood. The county razed a garage at the northeast corner of St. Clair and Ontario, to make way for the medical mart, and eliminated 500 spaces in the old convention center.

No one has produced a follow-up study.

But MMPI, which will manage the medical mart and convention complex, is now working with private parking companies to develop event-day parking options around the city.

And the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, a group of property owners, is pushing to expand the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's free trolley service.

The convention center will use existing parking options to make the convention center work, officials said.

For example, conventioneers driving into town and staying at downtown hotels can use the hotels' valet service. Buses also could shuttle conventioneers from far-away lots, including the Municipal Lot along the shoreway, something the experts recommend.

Where to find a space

Jeff Appelbaum, the county's pointman for the project, said officials also are banking on the private sector.

"It should create more pressure for more parking downtown, which will open up opportunities for developers," Appelbaum said

One possibility is the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority, which might ask votersfortax that could pay for a parking garage on Lake Erie and a pedestrian bridge to the mall.

Another possibilityis the current county administration building, at Ontario and Lakeside Avenue. County Executive Ed FitzGerald wants to move, which would free spaces in the county garage and make room for developers to build a hotel with parking. The county could make a parking garage a condition of the sale.

But Hacker, of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, advised against relying on the private sector for a solution to the problem.

"A hotelier is not likely to put up a parking structure that exceeds its own needs," he said. "They're not likely to speculate, spend millions of additional dollars on the hope that they'll get additional dollars from the convention center."

The National Senior Games, which will come to Cleveland's convention center July 21-Aug. 1 next year, will serve as the first test of parking capacity.

Positively Cleveland, the region's tourism bureau, is coordinating ways to move 35,000 people around town. Competitors will stay at some of downtown's 14 hotels, as well as dorms at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University, both of which are served by public transit.

"Will it be an issue?" said Positively Cleveland spokeswoman Lexi Hotchkiss. "I think it's really about communication, making sure lots are open and making sure there are options."

Hotchkiss also mentioned walking as an option. But if next July sizzles with the same 90-degree days this summer has seen, walking may not be that popular.

McCafferty, the former county administrator, acknowledged the lack of parking also could become an issue on winter days.

"What's a five-, 10-minute easy walk in the spring, summer, fall could be a torturous walk in the middle of winter," he said. "Winter, for parking, probably will be dicey."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.